Drug trafficking and insurgent terrorist organizations

DRUG TRAFFICKING & INSURGENT TERRORISTS

Criminal Justice

The primary way that drug trafficking and insurgent terrorists are connected is that drug trafficking is a way that insurgent terrorist finance their activities. There are cases where the cash from bought or sold illegal drugs is used for fund terrorist organizations and activities. There are other instances when drugs have served as currency in exchange for supplies, resources, materials, etc. that are used in terrorist activities. The link between terrorism and drug trafficking is difficult to document thoroughly, yet there are agencies and organizations around the world that agree that the link between them is undeniable as well as formidable.

Mararenko (2004) explains that since 9/11, there has been a massive surge of energy devoted to study and understand international terrorism. She further states how despite all this research, there is a distinct gap in the research, specifically in the area of the financing of terrorism. She contends that since the Cold War, drug trafficking as a source of income for terrorist organizations has increased exponentially. (2004) This means that whatever information is available regarding the connection between drug trafficking and insurgent terrorists must pale in comparison to the amount of undocumented activity. With the advent of the internet and advances in transportation, would-be drug traffickers have more options to procure and deliver illegal drugs around the world. One of the greatest assets of insurgent terrorists is their networks. These networks are strengthened by modern technologies because they facilitate communication as well as assist in the cover up of trail illegal activities. (Mararenko, 2004)

The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) is a group at the center of the civil war of Colombia, serving at once as the country's largest insurgent terrorist group and largest/most powerful drug trafficking cartel. This is a group that does have a history of terrorist activity, but only the latter few decades in the history of this group involve drug trafficking. In the 1990s, with one of the political parties made inoperative due to assassinations and violence, the FARC came to the forefront in "peasant politics." Drug trafficking began to finance and impact the politics in Colombia during the time to an unprecedented degree. (Schmid, 2005) as a way to stifle their political adversaries' revenue stream and fight against them, the FARC began trafficking drugs as well. Researchers see the increase of laboratories in the country as evidence to the link between FARC and drug trafficking. The FARC claims publically to not be involved in the drug trade. Any information or physical evidence that could be used to prove their direct involvement is lacking and circumstantial, in the opinions of those who both support and fight against the FARC. (Schmid, 2005)

This group and others like it have changed the game in terms of counterterrorism. Since groups like the FARC began successfully drug trafficking while still conducting terrorist activities, government agencies and other counterterrorist groups have developed a theory of the "narco-guerrilla" and "narcoterrorism." (Schmid, 2005) These are terms that imply the link and the robust, though nefarious, relationship between illegal drug trade and terrorism.